Chapter 6

That morning Lieutenant Colonel Wood was inspecting the military unit he commanded. They were waiting for a very important person here in Fort Myers, Congressman Jimmy Scott, the recently appointed Head of the Secret Missions Commission.

The funding of battle mages depended largely on him. Yes, these guys were funded from Pentagon but they were involved in special missions not only by orders of the Armed Forces. Mostly, it was behind-the-scene specialists from Langley office who were interested in sensitives’ capabilities.

Major Archibald Gottlieb was obediently following his commander.

“Faithful Gottlieb” – this is how Archie once called himself at a friendly feast. But was it true? Without any doubt, Major was an excellent professional in his specific field. But was he loyal indeed and should his boss expect some weird tricks from him?..

Gottlieb was eager to go to India and Tibet. It was nice, since a trip to the East could help getting some fresh knowledge. But they should keep an eye on Archie and Miss Betsy there. They should appear unexpectedly. This is how they could see whether Gottlieb was faithful or not. This couple could easily apply knowledge and skills for their own selfish purposes. In this case, it’s not only the reputation of him, Flenry Wood, who can go down the drain, but also all further career opportunities.

The class jumped up, showing genuine reverence, as soon as the big brass appeared in the room.

“At ease!” Wood commanded.

The students and the teacher took their seats.

He paid attention to Miss Gordon teaching the class: “Very pretty although she recently gave birth to a child…”

The teacher of sensitive disciplines and Major Gottlieb were the most powerful mages of the unit, its so-called “core”. That’s why a certain caution and endurance were required when dealing with Archibald. Like the Russians say, measure thrice and cut once, or, as they sing, “better do it once forty times…” This tactic is especially applicable to Betsy.

Recently, Gordon had such a passionate affair with one of the cadets that they even managed to stir the all-female officer’s dorm. This newly appeared drunk Romeo was trying to get through Betsy’s window at two o’clock in the morning. It would be ok, but Romeo made a mistake climbing into the room of two cadets and staring feeling up one of them. Naturally, their cries have been heard over the entire building. Finally, it came to the garrison commander and they had to expel the indigent drunkard.

The “Betsy” mission should definitely be fulfilled in a little different way: they should first send this perfect couple to a joint trip to India, to tantra followers.^[2] Archie would never resist Betsy’s charms after an impressive ceremony and being in the Tantric mood. That could be an obvious reason to keep a disobedient deputy in his place.

Yes! This is what they definitely needed to do!..

The inspection didn’t show any shortcomings so Lieutenant Colonel returned to his office. An hour later they phoned him from the checkpoint and reported that Congressman had arrived. Henry Wood ran to the gate personally to greet the “very important person”.

By the evening, the American reconnaissance delivered an important and timely report: “Major Archibald Gottlieb and Sergeant Betsey Gordon, Secret Army officers from Fort Myers, flew to India. After that, they follow to China, and then to Tibet.”

It gave a food for reflection.

Chapter 7

Dmitry Bystrov and Vitya Kotov took the news of the suspension of such important experiments very hard. They understood what it was all about. All sober-minded officers knew Eagle’s nature and his pathological indecisiveness in all important but not entirely understandable issues. In such cases, he tried to secure himself with the good old “safe side” principle. But the Deputy Head was a former military officer checked in military difficulties and complexities. He even was wounded once.

And besides, all orders are peremptory. The fact that Igor Ivanovich called his decision a recommendation did not change anything. Prudent General Larin did not dedicate his friends to all these semantic subtleties.

Besides, the nature of the Deputy Head was not very much discussed in the system. Sometimes somebody spoke about this in an ironic manner. But that was all, since something “more” could undermine leader’s authority.

And as you know, the intentions and actions of bosses are inscrutable.

Administrative “tops” ignored the specific traits of Igor Ivanovich’s character. It was worthwhile to have such a cautious leader in our difficult times. You can easily make the wrong move and…

Igor Ivanovich never made big mistakes. He had a couple of minor fails, but they had no effect on the overall positive outcome of the case. That’s why higher authorities appreciated and respected Lieutenant General.

However, when it was up to deal with the issue “for the sake of the Motherland” in detail, Deputy Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate did it in a quick and aggressive way. He discarded all of his eagle maneuvering and started acting with a fair amount of gradual and petty scrupulousness.

And now Igor Ivanovich called General Larin and Colonel Burlak to his office in the very morning.

This time, he did not show balancing trick with his glasses, but spoke in a serious manner:

“You already know the text of yesterday’s intelligence report, and therefore we will start without any foreword. I decided to send a couple of our best officers to China. We shall not only overcome the United States in this matter, but also to find out what they are going to find in Tibet. Do you have appropriate candidates, Comrade Burlak?”

“Yes, Comrade Lieutenant General!” started the Colonel as if he was a hobbled horse and his restraining bonds suddenly disappeared. “The best professionals in the unit I command are Lieutenant Colonel Bystrov and Captain Kotov!”

“Ah… astral fighters!” Igor Ivanovich smiled showing his white teeth.

“They are not only strong in astral science but are also good at martial arts. Dmitry Bystrov, for example, perfectly mastered the technique of contactless combat!” continued Sergei Petrovich, very pleased with such a rapid positive change.

“That’s what we could do in China, astral fights… In some way we could even put the famous Shaolin monastery to shame,” exclaimed the Deputy Head of the Directorate, without explaining his words further. He understood that the smart commandos will be more than happy to follow his recommendations not to get involved in any “fights”.

It was a good symbolic conversation.

Actually, Sergei Petrovich expected that the office owner would remind that Bystrov was Larin’s son-in-law. But the owner of elegant thin spectacles did not say a word, although he knew for sure about the relationship between Lieutenant Colonel and Lieutenant General. He knew that the personal file of each “character” described it in details. And it was the responsibility of Igor Ivanovich to know about this. The famous Russian expression “bosses should be known in person” had a reverse direction as well…

“Colonel, please prepare your unique specialists for another foreign trip,” exclaimed Igor Ivanovich firmly.

He stood up from the table quickly. He still hadn’t gained any weight because of the sedentary job he had. The subordinates also jumped up.

“May we go, Comrade Lieutenant General?” Larin asked formally snapping to attention.

“Yes! You may go!.. This task shall be entirely under your responsibility, Sergei Petrovich,” Igor Ivanovich instructed looking at the analyst’s back.

Chapter 8

The conversation between Henry Wood and the Congressman took place in a cozy “comer”. Jimmy Scott asked the unit commander about the duties of his subordinates. Lieutenant Colonel started to describe their achievements in an inspired manner.

According to him, it turned out that battle mages are much superior to those of a similar unit of the main potential enemy – Russia.

“We control all the main secrets of Russians.” The Pentagon is very pleased with the disclosure rate which has now almost reached ninety-eight percent!” Wood proclaimed pathetically.

“A very good rate,” the Congressman agreed. He paused and said impressively: “But we, as a commission in charge of special missions, need something more, which is your direct participation in our foreign campaigns.”

“What do you mean by participation?” Lieutenant Colonel started getting worried. “We have a totally different specificity!”

He understood well: if mages would be involved directly to support special operations, that is, to participate in them… Oh! Then the sensitives staff would soon reduce due to combat losses and the unit disappeares! No, he had to object this unreasonable decision. Mages should fight only virtually!

“You misunderstood me, my dear Henry,” Scott said in a conciliatory way. “You think that the special missions are connected only with shooting and explosions. We must work for the future of America. I’m more concerned with the secrets you can get by moving into the past. For example, Nazi Germany once strongly outscored all the leading world powers, including ours.

Transferring to an individual is good. But settlement or substitution (replacement) of one person’s consciousness with the other’s is totally amazing! The CIA archives picked up at the defeated Third Reich contain the mentioning of this unique technique. And it is you, Jimmy, who must turn your people who are now in India, to deal with this particular topic upon arrival in Tibet. My committee will give so much money that you couldn’t even dream about, my dear Lieutenant Colonel. And you will become a General!

“Yes, sure, ok… I’ll meet Major Gottlieb and Sergeant Gordon immediately and psyche them up accordingly,” Lieutenant Colonel Wood hastened to assure his valued guest. The prospect of becoming a General was very inspiring.

After Jimmy Scott’s departure, Henry gingerly walked through the training classes, inspiring battle mages for new achievements in the name of true democracy worldwide. Then he gathered the teachers, the “elite” of his military unit as he called them. Wood set a task before his elite: to help Archibald Gottlieb and Miss Gordon meet the right people and find out all the secrets that can exalt America!

The assistance was in energy feeding of the above-mentioned individuals who are on the front line of the struggle against Russia, China and all those countries that are still beyond the USA control.

In view of the changed tasks of the unit, Henry Wood urgently booked a plane ticket to Beijing.

Sitting in the airplane taxiing out to the start, he fully appreciated the situation with Congressman Scott. Yes, what the head of the commission suggested surpassed Wood’s early assumptions about Gottlieb and Gordon. They need to value such employees rather than work against them!

So Henry decided to be much more friendly with them.